My Last Breath
by iloveslinky
Summary: The fourth, and hopefully final, installment of the 'Before He Cheats' series. What really happened when Jimmy slept with Betty? What was the doctor's final diagnosis? How is Cindy handling it? All these questions and more answered inside! RxR


**A/N:** Wow, ok, umm... On the last one, SUPRISE!!! I lied! He he, -sees crazed FF reader coming towards her with a brick- AAH! DON'T KILL ME!!!!

Ok, well, as you might have seen, I'm having a Thanksgiving Day FanFiction Blow Out!!! I'm updating all my stories and might be starting a few new ones!!! Wooo!!!!! Be thankful for your treat you bloos-sucking, review hording, J/Cer- I mean, kind readers who are just bursting out of their skins to review my story!

By the way, when I chose this song I hadn't really listened to the actual song. I found the lyrics online and thought they would jive well with this story. When I listened to the sng, however, I was proved wrong. The lyrics fit, but the way it was sung didn't. So, for those of you who _have_ heard the song you're out of luck, but for those of you who haven't then today is your lucky day:D

I don't own _My Last Breath_ by Evanescence. I don't own Jimmy Neutron either. Nor do I own Superman (By the way, I bleed if you shoot me in the chest plate, so don't try (I apologize to all those non-Dane Cook fans out there that have no idea what I'm talking about)). Also, the Ultra Lord reference belongs to, my favorite FanFiction writer, GaDS2000.

* * *

Cindy peered into the hospital room. Jimmy was lying on a bed in a blue and white, crisp gown. He had a tube injected into his nose to help him breathe. Cindy inched her way in. Her hands were freshly cleaned of the sticky blood, but tears were forming in her eyes now. Cindy clenched her hands and walked over to the chair seated on the left side of the bed. 

Jimmy's eyes were shut, cutting off their electric blue. Hopefully he was sleeping.

_"__Hold on to me love_

_you__ know I can't stay long_," Cindy breathed as she grasped Jimmy's hand in her own. It was still cold, but not as much.

"_All I wanted to say was I love you an__d I'm not afraid,_" Cindy said looking at the boy's fragile face.

"Cindy, I'm so, so sorry, a million times sorry! I never should have done that, you know I love you more than myself, more than science, more than anything. That's why I did this, because I didn't want to be alive without you by my side!" When Cindy didn't respond, Jimmy went on,

"Cindy? _Can you hear me?_"

"_Can you feel me in your arms?_"

"Of course I can what do you think I am, unconscious?" then it dawned on him. Jimmy was unconscious. Lifeless to the world; dying to get out inside.

"I can't, I can't die! Cindy, get me out of here!"

_Holding my last breath_

_Safe inside myself_

_Are all my thoughts of you_

"Jimmy, all those years I didn't tell you how I felt about you. I mocked you and I ridiculed you. I derided you and I embarrassed you. I'm sorry and I'm sad that ten years of our lives were lost to that and only a few were spent together," Cindy cried onto Jimmy's chest. She shut her eyes together tightly.

"I'm so, so sorry."

Jimmy, locked within, was amazed. He had never really heard Cindy apologize for anything ever before in the entirety of her existence. At long last Jimmy realized that Cindy knew something he didn't.

"_Sweet __ruptured__ light__..."_

_"__It__ ends here tonight_," Cindy said and Jimmy thought.

Sweet realization dawned on the genius. He tried to move his limbs to hold Cindy, he tried to budge open his lips to comfort her. He tried to lift his hand to wipe away her tears. Nothing happened. Slowly it dawned on the genius that he couldn't feel anything. Only the pang of sadness throbbing at his heart.

Jimmy thought of his mother, her pie. Jimmy thought of his father and alphabetizing his extensive collection of porcelain ducks. Jimmy thought of Sheen and how he'd watch Ultra Lord every night at five, seven, and ten-thirty, with repeats the following day at nine, eleven, one-thirty and six, he also thought of the time he told Sheen that when he died Sheen would meet Ultra Lord. Jimmy thought of Carl and his undying obsession with llamas. Jimmy thought about his friends from school. He thought of Nick and Butch and Oleander and Bolbi and April and Elkie and Jet Fusion and Eustace Strych and Betty (but only for a split second) and Terry and the Nanobots who only wanted to serve and the time his father put them into his toy and they rampaged through the town. Jimmy's mind wandered to Emily and Brittany and Libby. He thought of Retroland and of how he'd never see it or ride the "Bat Outta Heck" roller coaster again. Jimmy contemplated Lindbergh Elementary and Oceanside Middle School and Serrena High. Jimmy looked back on all the wonderful times he had at those places; in third grade when he moved to Retroville and met all his friends, in eighth grade when he and Sheen stole Libby's diary, he thought of in his sophomore year when he and Carl flew to the moon and visited Brobot and ate mounds of Mombot's lunar pies. Of all these thoughts, Jimmy couldn't bear to let his mind wander to his beloved; the girl weeping on his torso.

"_I'll miss the winter; _

_A__ world of fragile things_," Jimmy said slowly. He gazed down at the girl; she must hear him for her crying had silenced and her breathing had slowed.

"_Look for me in the white forest_

_Hiding__ in a hollow tree_."

Cindy whimpered silently. She dare not open her eyes for she feared seeing the parchment white, unresponsive face in front of her. Instead, she felt her way onto the bed and lay her head next to the boy's.

_"__I know you hear me_," Cindy whispered. Jimmy understood.

"You can hear me too;

_I can taste it in your tears_.""Jimmy, don't leave me here alone."

Jimmy's heart broke. He couldn't let Cindy pain. He'd already put her through enough in the past few weeks, why make it continue?

_Holding my last breath_

_Safe inside myself_

_A__re__ all my thoughts of you_

_Sweet __ruptured__ light, it ends here tonight_

Cindy couldn't talk, she couldn't think. Nothing she could say or cogitate would come without Jimmy in there somewhere. She was not capable of getting him out of her mind.

Jimmy could see Cindy from his position inside himself. He didn't know how since his eyes were closed, but he didn't care.

The blonde lay, curled up next to him. He could sense her heart beating slowly. Jimmy studied her face, knowing this would be the last time he would see his guardian angel. _"__Closing your eyes to disappear_

_You__ pray your dreams will leave you here_," Jimmy said, noting how quiet she'd become. Perhaps she'd fallen asleep.

_"__But still you wake and know the truth__."_

Cindy's eyes fluttered open and she sat straight up in the bed. She must have dozed off there for a second. She rubbed her eyes and tried to get a bearing.

_No one's there_ Cindy thought. She believed it until she lay back down in her previous position and noted the half-departed Jimmy lying next to her.

The scene earlier with the doctor echoed in her mind;

_Doctor Kern stood in front of her with a sad, sad look in his eye. He wore a fake frown. Cindy could tell what he was about to say and she also knew that he didn't care._

_"He's going to die," the doctor said, his hands fidgeting around the clipboard he was holding,__"__He has a short time left, but, due to the major blood loss, he'll be unresponsive, in a coma of sorts, until that __fateful__ moment."_

Cindy relived that horrible feeling. The feeling one gets when the dam is breaking, all the water is flooding the town, and no one knows where Superman is to save them all from their imminent doom. She pinched her eyes shut trying to block out the tears. A few deep breaths later she opened them again.

_Sleep. Maybe I should think of this as Jimmy going into eternal rest._ Cindy looked back at the boy.

_"__Say goodnight_

_Don't__ be afraid_

_Calling__ me,__ calling me,__ as you fade to black__,"_

Jimmy cried within. He knew his life was to come to a close in a few more minutes. He let his mind wander to Cindy. He thought of when he first met her and the first fight they ever got in, it was the first day he'd gotten an A+ at his new school. He thought of the way Cindy acted the day they had to split the trip to Retroland for selling candy. He thought of when she comforted him in that cell on Yolkus. Jimmy thought of those few weeks that they were in each other's bodies, how weird that was. Jimmy thought of the two glorious days they spent together on that deserted island. He thought of every trip they had made back there since. Jimmy thought of that night behind the news studio when he'd kissed her. He thought of the love potion and the diary and when she was able to read his mind for a few days in eighth grade. Jimmy wondered what exactly she had heard.

Jimmy thought of the last few years. The ones spent enjoying Cindy rather than cursing her very existence on the outside and cursing that curse on the inside. Jimmy thought of the day he had admitted his love for her. He'd never forget the look on Sheen's face just before he screamed to the heavens, "Everything I know is a lie!" Jimmy wouldn't forget the day he took her to Venus for her birthday present where they got an amazing view of a meteor shower. He would also never forget the day he promised Cindy that he'd love and protect her forever and ever. The thing Jimmy wouldn't forget most of all though was the day, _that_ day. The day before he cheated on Cindy.

_Betty stood in front of the school leaning on one of the great pillars that held up the roof. Cindy and Jimmy had just exited the school hand-in-hand when the bell rang. Both were smiling, talking about their upcoming trip to God-only-knows-where. Betty cringed and rolled her eyes. _

_Jimmy kissed Cindy and told her that he'd see her after she got home from work. Cindy waved goodbye and was off towards the gym where she taught martial arts._

_Betty pulled out a mirror and fixed her bleach blonde mess of hair and checked her make-up. _Good enough, this is, after all, Neutron we're talking about, _she thought._

_Betty walked up to the love-struck boy and smiled widely. _

_"Hey, Jimmy. Long time, no see," she chirped._

_"Oh, hi, Betty," he said as he took his gaze off his beloved and rested it on the tramp next to him. "Yeah, it has been a long time. I barely even see you anymore!" _

_Betty had totally slipped behind in her academics. She was barely passing in classes __for people__ two years younger than herself. Jimmy, of course, was setting the standards for __everyone__ around him._

_"It's so weird not having you and Vortex __fighting__ all the time. Without that distraction, I _really_has__ to pay attention in class!"_

_Jimmy chuckled, "well, even if we were in your classes there would be no fighting. We got together about two and a half years ago."_

_Betty faked pleasure, "how wonderful is that?! Wow, we really need to catch up some time."_

_"Yeah, that would be a lot of fun, wouldn't it?"_

_"It would, how about tomorrow night, we could go __to dinner over at that new restaurant that they made out of the Candy Bar!" she grinned._

_"Yeah, how about six? I'll meet you there."_

_"Great."_

_The next night the dinner was fabulous; the food, not the one he was sharing it with. After a while, someone who knew Jimmy from his frequent __apparitions__ in the newspaper gave them a complementary bottle of champagne. After that bottle, the star-struck waiter gave the two another and another until Jimmy could barely see straight._

_Betty suggested the two go home after the second course. Betty drove the car because Jimmy wouldn't allow himself. Little did he know that she was partially tipsy herself. As luck would have it, the two didn't get into an accident. Not literally anyways._

_It wasn't until the two arrived at the Neutron residence that the 'accident' occurred. One thing led to another and the Neutron's front lawn became a play-place until that light in the Wheezer's front lawn lit up their performance. _

Jimmy thought of the disarray that the lab had gone through and how the boy had left it there and how it was still there. Jimmy felt sorry about how that was the last way Goddard would see day.

"I'm_holding__ my last breath_

_Safe inside myself_

_Are all my thoughts of you_

_Sweet __ruptured__ light_," Jimmy's vision faded. His breathing slowed.

Cindy sat up in the bed as she heard the heart monitor's, once steady, beep slow.

Jimmy faintly heard a strong, monotone beep let out and, oddly enough, wondered if he'd meet Ultra Lord.

_I__t ends here tonight_

* * *

And now the great Jimmy Neutron is no more, 

With the girl he loved and died for

Bawling her eyes out onto his chest,

Thank God two years ago he confessed

The love for this woman he adored and caressed.

Thus ends the adventures of Jimmy Neutron; Boy Genius

Never again to entertain or laugh with us.

So, please, do get mad at dear old Nick.

I give you full permission to hit them with a brick.

* * *

**A/N:** Ok, I don't think I can go any farther in this story and you're just gonna have to live with it! -Sigh- At last, that's over! By the way, in the poem, nothing rhymed with Nickelodeon so I shortened it to 'Nick.' DO NOT GET CONFUSED WITH NICK_ DEAN!_ But you can hit him with a brick if you want to. It's all the same to me! 

Don't forget to review for dear young iloveslinky! She knows she should be writing "The People Inside My Head..." but she has ADD... REALLY bad AD- hey look, a fly...

iloveslinky


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